Tribute to disaster victims

The 80th anniversary of the Kirkintilloch Disaster has been commemorated by the town’s MSP.

Rona Mackay, SNP MSP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, lodged a motion with the Scottish Parliament this month.

On September 15, 1937, 10 young men and boys from Achill Island on the West coast of Ireland died in a bothy fire on a Kirkintilloch potato farm.

The accommodation they were housed in was “not fit for cattle” and that lessons can still be learned by the tragic death in modern day Scotland.

Ms Mackay said: “It is so important that we remember the tragic Kirkintilloch Disaster where so many young men were killed. The bothy these Irish migrant workers were housed in was not fit for cattle, reports in the aftermath concluded.

“I was glad to commemorate this event with the Scottish Parliament 80 years on. I have done this both as a matter of respect for the dead and to serve as a reminder of the need to respect all workers and EU nationals as Brexit looms.”